Sword Polishing
by utherandtroll
Summary: A sword is integral to success for any Knight of Camelot, whether you're a prince or a squire. Once you know how to properly wield it, taking care to have it polished often, you are on the road to eternal glory  and many, many innuendos ! kinda M/A


**A/N: More crack with some fluff thrown in for good measure :)**

* * *

*Sword Polishing*

Arthur woke up to sunlight gently streaming through his window. Groggily, he could make out the people going about their business in the square, selling their wares, talking, and eating lunch.

...Eating lunch ?

"_Merlin_," he growled. Merlin'd probably overslept and forgotten to wake him.

Again.

He drew his hands through his rumpled hair and cursed his manservant. A sleeping groan made him freeze in the act of getting out of bed And that was when he realised that Merlin was right next to him in bed.

"Merlin..." he said cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

His servant opened one eye sleepily and then shut it again. "Huh?"

"Merlin!" Arthur snapped when the other man seemed to fall asleep again.

Merlin sighed a long-suffering sigh. "Well, you told me to polish your sword..."

"Did I?" Arthur asked. "I don't remember that."

"Yep," Merlin replied sleepily, "I polished it all night long."

Arthur blinked. "Um."

"And then I was too tired to go back to my own bed, and you were annoyed at all the noise, so you just told me to 'shut up' and sleep here with you."

Arthur was confused. He was pretty sure he'd only asked Merlin to give his sword a quick polish. But Merlin always had enjoyed polishing his sword he supposed. He'd probably just polished them a few extra times to make Arthur happier. And incompetent as he was at most things, Merlin definitely knew how to polish swords properly.

He should let him know that, he thought. Whenever Arthur gave him a compliment, Merlin's eyes always lit up with a sort of inner glow. And with the sleep-tousled hair he was currently sporting he would look extra adorable. Wait. He has SO not just thought that.

"You know, you're pretty good at polishing swords," Arthur quickly said to Merlin, who was lying half asleep on his bed, ruthlessly squashing down his meandering thoughts.

"Thanks," came the mumbled reply. "Gwaine thought so too."

" ...WHAT?" Arthur was suddenly furious. He didnt want to share his manservant with anyone. He was the prince. He shouldn't need to share anything. And especially not this blue-eyed man with the cheekbones of a god... Arthur pinched himself hard before he started accidentally spouting out this nonsense aloud.

Then he remembered what Merlin had just said.

"Gwaine?" he growled.

"Don't worry, Arthur," Merlin hastened to assure him, his bed-tousled hair sticking up in a way that was most certainly not distubringly cute. "It was just a quick polish. No one else would, you see. He looked so lonely sitting there by himself while all the other knights were getting their swords polished."

This did not mollify Arthur in the slightest. And then what else Merlin said hit him.

"Wait...there were others?"

"Yep!" Merlin said cheerfully. "All the knights were there with their servants. It was a sword polishing_ event_."

"Why wasn't I invited?" Arthur asked sulkily. "I'm the prince. I should be invited to everything."

Merlin patted Arthur's hand and yawned.

"Don't worry, I was thinking of you while I polished Gwaine's sword."

Huh. Arthur ignored the way his whole body relaxed at Merlin's words. "You were?"

"The whole time," Merlin assured him.

"I guess it doesn't matter then," Arhtur said, trying to look nonchalant.

"I'm glad you don't mind," Merlin said cheerfully. "Cause he asked me to polish his sword every night. But I said I had to ask you first."

Arthur gaped at him.

"But since you don't mind, I'll just go tell him..."

"Don't you dare," Arthur snarled, interrupting him.

"You. Are. _My_ Servant. _Mine._"

Merlin looked surprised "Um," he said, "Okay. If that's what you want."

Arhtur looked a little ashamed of his outburst. He looked at Merlin out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to be pouting. Arthur groaned.

"Look, I wasn't angry at you alright?"

Merlin brightened almost instantly. "And Gwaine either, right?" he asked anxiously.

Arthur sighed and then relented. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for awhile, before Arthur decided to make it up to him. He wasn't always a prat, no matter what said manservant liked to say.

"Merlin," he said. "Since you didn't wake me up on time this morning, and it's a Sunday, why don't we just take the day off?"

"Can you take a day off from being a prince?" Merlin asked doubtfully. "Of course I can Merlin!" Arthur said with exasperation. "I'm the prince!"

"Didn't you just say you were taking a day off from that?" Merlin asked slyly, laughing at Arthur's bemused expression.

Until Arthur threw a pillow in his face.


End file.
